This invention relates generally to the production of commodity and specialty chemicals and, more specifically to an integrated bioprocess for producing acrylic acid and acrylate esters.
Acrylic acid and acrylate esters are large volume petrochemical products. For example, acrylic acid is a commodity monomer intermediate used for the production of polymeric materials such polyacrylic acid, which is a major component of superabsorbant diapers. Acrylic acid also is used for the production of acrylate esters, which are utilized in water-soluble latex coatings, adhesives and inks. Acrylic acid and acrylate esters are manufactured by petrochemical processes such as oxidation of propylene, followed by esterification with alcohols such as methanol, butanol, and 2-ethylhexanol. These chemical products are manufactured at total volumes exceeding 10 billion lb/year and represent a market of over $10 B in sales. The annual growth for these markets is estimated to be 4-5% globally.
Chemicals manufactured from petroleum feedstocks suffer the burden of high and volatile prices, insecure foreign supply chains, and declining reserves (Frost, J. W., Redefining chemical manufacture. Ind. Biotechnol. 1:23-24 (2005)). Therefore, a method of producing large volume chemicals or their intermediates by alternative means that reduce petroleum-based processes and also use less energy- and capital-intensive processes would be beneficial. The ability to generate chemical compounds based on biological processes could provide one such alternative means. However, complete biosynthesis of a chemical compound is not always available, and in some instances, toxic to the host organism.
Chemical manufacture based on low cost renewable resources is another alternative for chemical manufacture as a possible displacement of petroleum-based raw materials such as propylene or butane. However, in order for such resources to replace current manufacturing methods new chemical or biosynthetic processes need to be developed for each resource and/or target chemical.
Thus, there exists a need for compositions and methods that reduce the use for petroleum-based synthesis of acrylic acid and its derivatives. The present invention satisfies this need and provides related advantages as well.